


Learn Me Right

by afterandalasia



Category: Brave (2012), Frozen (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 19th Century, Community: disney_kink, Courtship, Crossover Pairings, Doric Dialect, Elsa Has Ice Powers, F/F, Femslash, Femslash February, Ice Skating, Languages, Lesbian Elsa, Politics, Romantic Fluff, Royalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-02
Updated: 2014-02-02
Packaged: 2018-01-10 23:58:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterandalasia/pseuds/afterandalasia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the Western Clan Alliance visits Arendelle in the name of trade, Elsa is expecting it to be a relatively normal fortnight.</p><p>It turns out to be far better than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learn Me Right

**Author's Note:**

> From a [prompt](http://disney-kink.livejournal.com/9516.html?thread=5979692) on the Disney Kink Meme simply asking for lesbian Elsa. 
> 
> AU in that Brave has been tugged forwards in time a few hundred years.
> 
> The eagle-eyed among you might spot a few words of Finnish, various made-up language names, and a lot of the Doric dialect from Scotland (as spoken by MacGuffin). The Doric is as accurate as I could make it (and I had more trouble researching that than the Finnish. Make of that what you will).
> 
> Also, Kristoff & Young MacGuffin BroTP.
> 
> (For anyone who doesn't know, a haggis is a small hairy creature which runs around mountain tops. It has two legs shorter than the others, so must always run the same way around the mountain. There are two ways to catch one -- either you get them when they're sunbathing in the roads in summer, or you jump out and scare them so they turn around and try to run away. With their uneven legs, they unbalance and roll down the mountainside.)

Elsa was slower to get the hang of making conversation. It helped to have Anna around, because Anna was good at making people feel at home and forget that they were talking to a _Queen_ and a _Princess_. By herself, it was more difficult. She was grateful when whomever she was speaking to was more adept than she.

Unfortunately, Anna had a tendency to slip away without Elsa noticing, usually to say her helloes to someone new. Laudable, but potentially awkward when the trading delegation from Dunbroch and the other Western Clan Alliance states were all in town.

Pursing her lips and breathing deeply, Elsa slipped through the ballroom, nodding and smiling to those whom she passed, until she finally heard her sister's laughter and caught sight of her through the crowd.

Elsa gave a sigh of relief and made her way over to her sister; Anna was talking to another young woman, with a wild shock of flame-red hair and apparently a fondness for green to equal Anna's own. "-and the next thing we know," the woman said, "my three brothers are running over as naked as jay-birds as well!"

She, and Anna, collapsed into giggles, and Elsa smiled fondly for a moment before stepping right into their circle. "Pardon me," she said, causing Anna to straighten up and stifle her laughter and the woman to turn with a broad grin. "I apologise if my sister has been monopolising you." Anna nudged her with her hip, but was still smiling.

"Oh no," said the woman. "She's lovely to talk to."

Bold as brass, she extended a hand, and Elsa just about contained the flinch which was instinctive even then. It would take more than the past year to undo the rest of her life. Now, though, she took the offered hand and still felt that flush of relief at the warm touch of skin.

"Merida of Clan Dunbroch, at yer service."

"Oh. Oh!" Realisation dawned, and Elsa snatched her hand back to her chest as her eyes flew wide. "Princess Merida, my apologies!"

But Merida just laughed. "I'm not sure that the Queen of Arendelle should be apologising to the Princess of Dunbroch." Her laughter was infectious, and Elsa felt herself smile. "Besides, your sister was lovely to talk to as well. Not keeping everything about the trade," she added in a stage whisper.

"Merida was just asking about the ice sculptures," explained Anna, grabbing hold of Elsa's arm as she still sometimes did. "And I explained that Kristoff brings the ice down, but that most of them are your work."

Of course, it was an open secret nowadays that the Queen of Arendelle had magic in her hands, but Anna was still the one more willing to talk about it. Most of the time, Elsa was grateful for that, but sometimes it still felt uncomfortable that strangers knew things about her before she even came to know their names.

"I've never seen anything like them," Merida was saying though, enthusiasm pouring off her. "I mean, we get snow in Dunbroch, but it never manages to look nice like the sculptures do."

"You... are not uncomfortable with magic, then?"

"As long as it doesn't involve bears."

Unfortunately, before Elsa could ask for any sort of explanation, a young man with sandy blond hair and a heavy build came to join them. After listening to a few sentances, she was relieved to have Merida say not to worry, his name was MacGuffin and nobody understood a word that he said anyway.

 

\---

 

At dinner, Elsa saw to it that Merida sat at her left hand -- Anna, of course, was at her right -- and the three of them talked and laughed the evening through. With a year's hindsight, it was a little easier to talk about what had happened, but really what made it easier was a more sympathetic audience. Merida responded with her own story of will o' the wisps, witches and bears.

"And I have to say," she said over the chocolate fondue, "as a speciality, ice is better than bears."

"Now I have the terrible mental image of bears all over the Kingdom," said Anna, not quite beneath her breath. "And a castle made of them."

Merida laughed so hard that Young Dingwall gave her an almost offended look, and even Kristoff cracked a smile.

 

\---

 

"So, were you hoping to explore the Kingdom?" Elsa managed to catch Merida just as the princess was pulling on her boots, cloak over her shoulders and determined expression on. Merida looked up quickly, expression so studiously innocent that Elsa suppressed a laugh. "Were you thinking of going alone, or hoping to find a guide?"

"I hadn't really planned too much," Merida admitted. She glanced Elsa up and down, and must have taken in the solid boots that the Queen was wearing. "Yer heading out?"

Elsa shrugged. "The next official meeting with the delegates is not until after lunch. It's... nice to spend more time outside."

Merida finished pulling on her boots and stood up. She was wearing a sturdy, no-nonsense dress -- green, again. Elsa tried not to smile at that thought. "So, how good do the guides get, Your Majesty?"

For a moment, Elsa felt as if she wanted to run away again, but she held her ground and even reached out a hand to help Merida up. "How good is your ice-skating?"

 

\---

 

"I warned ye!"

Merida's backside hit the ice again in a rather undignified heap. Elsa honestly tried to keep a straight face, but the expression on her guest's face was so utterly offended that she couldn't help it. Hitching down her skirt, Merida made another attempt to get to her feet, but her supporting foot went flying from under her and she would have hit her face if Elsa hadn't caught her hands instead.

"I thought when you said that you were bad at ice skating that..." Elsa trailed off, shrugging. "Well, you could just about skate."

"My brothers made a sled to pull me round the ice last winter," replied Merida. She tried to shift her weight, lost her balance, and tumbled into Elsa's arms as she tried to stand upright again. "I fud not haf agreed to thif," she commented flatly, into Elsa's shoulder.

Even Anna had struggled a little when she had first tried to take to the ice. But most of Arendelle was so used to ice that everyone knew how to skate, at least well enough to get from one side of a lake to the other. It was almost a novel sensation to find someone who could not skate at all.

And Elsa, of course... well, the ice was almost more natural to her than paved roads.

"Come on," she said, taking Merida's hands on hers. She turned around and gently shifted backwards, drawing Merida after her. "It's like walking. just keep your feet under you."

"My feet aren't blades," grumbled Merida, but once she was no longer stumbling she risked a look away from her feet and into Elsa's eyes. Her eyes were really quite a brilliant blue, Elsa had to admit, like looking into deep, flawless ice. But her hair was fire and her hands were warm, and as she got the hang of it she laughed fearlessly. 

The ice which Elsa had created in the fjord was flawless beneath their feet, smoother than a mirror and utterly perfect for skating. Even after years in isolation, without stepping foot out here, Elsa had never struggled to skate again, as if the ice knew her as well as she knew it.

"I can see why ye like this," said Merida, slightly out of breath and flush-cheeked. Her accent had grown stronger as she skated. "But it's hard work."

"It's just different muscles," Elsa replied. Still going backwards, she skated them to the edge of the ice, and removed the blades from Merida's feet just as the redhead stepped onto solid ground again. Naturally, having just gotten used to skating, her feet moved wrongly and she stumbled again.

Merida grabbed at Elsa's arm to stay upright, nearly pulling the queen with her. "Damn it!"

The glare that she gave the ground made Elsa laugh all over again until, with a sheepish look, Merida joined in. "So tell me," said Elsa, "how do you intend to see the kingdom without skating? This isn't a land where horses do too well, much of the time."

Merida gave her a wicked look. "You haven't met my horse."

 

\---

 

   
Angus was one of the largest beasts that Elsa had ever seen, with shaggy fur and intelligent eyes, and he treated the snow like a game. Merida had to dissuade him from going into deeper drifts as they made their way the lower slopes of the North Mountain.

It had been many years since Elsa had been on the back of any animal, horse or reindeer. When Angus galloped -- as best he could -- she swallowed an undignified yelp and found herself absolutely clinging to Merida.

But it was _good_. The wind whipped at her skin and hair, the world flew in streaks of white and green, and Merida's whoops of joy were infectious. Slowly, she loosened her hold enough to sit up and see the landscape, still bathed in the long-evening light of summer.

"How high do you want to go?" shouted Merida over her shoulder. 

Elsa heard the challenge in it, and part of her wanted to answer _to the very peak, on a pinnacle of ice, and further still_ , but the thin cold air would not be enough for people other than her. "The first plateau," she shouted back, and dared to take one arm away from Merida's waist to point it out.

When they reached it, Merida dismounted in a bound, and Elsa tried to fall off the horse without losing too much of her dignity in the process. She wasn't sure how much that it worked. Her guest, though, was standing at the rocky edge of the outcrop, looking down over the city of Arendelle below.

Quietly, Elsa joined her, and for a moment neither spoke. Even from this distance, the borealis-blue ice that sparkled on the rooves and eaves of the castle was stable, glittering in the sunlight. The sun cast long, low shadows right into the south-facing fjord, and the hills surrounded it with green.

Merida had a look of awe on her face, then she caught Elsa's gaze and raised eyebrow and tried to hurry it away. "Not unpleasant," she said with playful primness in her voice.

"You should see it in winter," replied Elsa.

This time it was Merida's turn to raise her eyebrows, crossing her arms and giving Elsa a challenging look. "Show me."

Elsa shook her head, the boldness going out of her, and took a step back. "No, no, it's too dangerous..."

"Not the whole Kingdom!" Merida waved a hand towards it. "Smaller."

She put her hands a bare foot apart, as if she was cradling a ball. Elsa looked down at her palms, her fingers. Sometimes she felt as if she could see the patterns of snowflakes beneath her skin.

"I... can try," she said.

 

\---

 

She didn't know how long they sat there, Merida bundled up in her cloak, Elsa in her light gown. She had made a patch of smooth, clear ice before her, and was trying to raise it up into a model of the kingdom. It was harder to capture shapes made by stone, and not the fractals and bars and hexagons that the ice wanted to create.

"You're right," said Merida softly, as Elsa drew the spires of the castle into the air. "It is beautiful."

A rush of pleasure filled her at the words, and Elsa turned to face Merida with a shy smile on her face. She did not expect the warmth that she saw in Merida's gaze, and before she knew it there was a hand on her jaw pulling her into a kiss.

For a moment, all that she knew was the _warmth_. The heat of Merida's lips, softer than the jaggedness of fire, more intense than the laving of sunlight. Then she felt the brush of breath on her cheek, of hair against her skin, the softness and slow movement of Merida's lips, and cautiously kissed her back.

"I could see in yer eyes," whispered Merida, drawing back only far enough that they could open their eyes to see each other. "You're not one for rules."

Elsa kissed her again. She felt the snow rippling around her, flurries forming curls and flourishes in the air, and sighed as Merida's hand came to rest on her shoulder instead. Merida kissed her over and over, and each one felt just slightly different, and Elsa stored them all up in her memory and tried to give back just as much.

Finally, Merida gave a shiver, and Elsa drew back with warm lips and quick breath. "The cold," she said quietly. The sun was finally dipping towards the horizon, and even in summer Arendelle was not the warmest of kingdoms. "I'm sorry. I didn't notice."

"Good thing you were born in this kingdom, then," said Merida. 

Elsa got to her feet and tugged her upright, and Merida stuck her fingers in her mouth to whistle. With a snort, Angus trotted over from where he had been investigating the local flora and finding it utterly wanting, and headbutted her hard enough to almost knock her sideways. Merida punched him lightly on the shoulder in return.

"You beastie. Come on, you should be getting back."

Elsa's eyes flew wide, and she felt a stab of panic in her chest. "Oh no. The trade--"

"You've got ministers," said Merida. She leapt up into the saddle with a grace that didn't seem to have been affected by hours sitting in the snow. "Besides, I was supposed to be there as well. We can just say that we were discussing trade up here."

"Thank you." The words came out quiet. It was still frightening, sometimes, to be so young and be Queen. Taking the proferred hand, Elsa was still pulled into the saddle as much as able to climb up on her own.

Merida shrugged. "My mother will have my hide if she finds out I skipped another meeting, but I'll get to the important ones. I'm still getting the hang of this princess thing."

Behind her, Elsa chuckled. "I know how that feels."

 

\---

 

It turned out that the Western Clans had not really known what to do without Merida to lead the talking, and Anna had stepped in to organise a tour of the city to keep them occupied instead. By the looks of things, she was just introducing them to chocolate fondue when Elsa and Merida crept back into the ballroom, still tousle-haired from the wind and wearing their heavier boots. Anna looked round to them, raised her eyebrows pointedly, and then shared a smile with Elsa. The last couple of years had done her good as well.

"Kristoff and McGuffin are getting on surprisingly well," she said as she joined them. "Turns out he's about as easy to understand as a reindeer."

"That explains a lot," muttered Merida.

"Yer Highness!" One of the Clan men... Dingwall, Elsa thought that he had said his name was, waved to attract Merida's attention. "Ye must try this fondant!"

Anna caught Merida's sleeve just before their guest could try to corrall her men. "Would you mind trying to stop them from drinking it?"

"I'll do my best," Merida said, and gave Anna a smile that was downright conspiratorial as she slipped away.

Anna released her and turned to Elsa, who tried not to look too much as though she had been caught. "So?"

"So... what?" Elsa folded her hands in front of her.

With a roll of her eyes, Anna grabbed her older sister's arm. "So where _were_ you? You look like you've been up a _mountain_ somewhere. Again."

"We might have been," Elsa admitted, as Anna started laughing. "We were just talking about... all sorts of things, really. Dunbroch and Arendelle and magic and responsibility." About what it meant to be Queen, or to know that you were to become one. She had made it a point to say that being Queen had not been as difficult as she had feared, though she wasn't sure how much Merida had believed her. "Just the Sinenne Plateau, on the North Mountain. It looks right over the bay."

She became aware that Anna was looking at her with a slightly different grin now: a mischievious one, but warm. Her hands squeezed Elsa's arm.

"What?" said Elsa again.

"It's nice to see you getting along with her so well. Opposites attract and everything."

She studiously did not mention the kiss. "Yes. It was a nice day."

Before Anna could ask any more questions, there was a small chocolate explosion and a burst of yells from somewhere over by the table. Merida's frustrated, " _Hubert!_ " cut across the top of it.

Anna grimaced. "Maybe the fondue was a bad idea."

 

\---

 

The trade meeting continued the following day, instead. Elsa and Merida sat at opposite ends of the tables, and when minor disputes broke out among their people they would often pause and exchange fond looks before continuing. Arendelle's timber was not of as much interest to Dunbroch as it was to many kingdoms, but the ice and good-quality glass which it produced were. Copper was mentioned briefly. In return, Dunbroch offered coal and oil, important to an icy kingdom, and a fair trade in iron.  
   
At the heart of the matter, though, were ships. Arendelle was known for its fine shipbuilding, especially large vessels that could stand cold weather and could break through thick ice. It was generally said that to go further east than Arendelle by sea, you had to use an Arendelle ship.

(It had not been forgotten, either, that Elsa and Anna's parents had not been on an Arendellen ship at the time of their deaths.)

Dunbroch was looking to explore further east and north, and though they had their own lumber and good ship-building techniques, they simply were not the match for Arendelle. It formed the core of the debate, and numbers flew back and forth between the groups. Elsa and Merida found themselves as much mediating as discussing the matter themselves, and Anna watched with interest and vague bewilderment as the bickering developed. Although she did better with everyday affairs and talking to citizens of the city, she did not have the detachment Elsa had found worked rather well with ministers and court.

They managed to narrow the numbers of ships being discussed to a reasonable range, and when Elsa caught sight of the rising moon outside she called the meeting to a halt. "We still have two more weeks, after all," she said pointedly.

"Aye," said Young MacGuffin. "Aabody'd feel richt doited if'n ye hadda bleeter fer twaa weeks, ye ken."

Elsa did not miss a beat. "Of course."

 

\---

 

"One of your friends actually understands him?" Merida still looked incredulous at the thought. She and Elsa sat in the empty ballroom, now cleaned of chocolate, and watched the moonlight drift across the floor. "Can we borrow them?"

Elsa laughed. "My sister's... well, not fiancé. They're sort of... engaged to be engaged?"

It had sounded less ridiculous in her head than it did when she spoke it aloud. But Merida's laugh was playful rather than pointed, and she turned to put her back against the wall and her feet in Elsa's lap. Somehow Elsa didn't mind that, either. "Lucky."

"Aye," said Elsa, then realised what she had said and groaned. Merida cracked up again, and kept up a stream of 'och aye's and 'ay ist's every time that Elsa tried to open her mouth. "That is not funny," she said, trying to keep a straight face.

"Sait yersel," Merida replied.

Finally giving in, Elsa put her face into her hands and laughed. "How bad will I be by the end of two weeks?" she asked aloud.

"And Angeln is your second language," Merida pointed out.

"Puhun Meävelt, Angalelt," she counted on her fingers as she slipped back into her mother tongue, "Fränelt, sekä vähän Castillelt."

Merida wrinkled her nose, and prodded Elsa's thigh with her foot. "Show-off. Your ministers are holding their own, though."

"Angeln, Angalelt," she gave the language its own name and the one that her own people used, "is important. You can't use it on the docks, though. Unless you're particularly good at cursing."

 

\---

 

The Western Clans left behind them one copy of the new trade agreement -- which was technically still pending acceptance by Queen Elinor of Dunbroch, but Merida's signature was enough for everyone involved -- and a sincere request that Elsa come to visit them at some point in the coming months.

"I'll see what I can do," Elsa replied. She thought that as long as it was in an Arendellen ship and she knew that she could keep the winds mostly in check, she would consider it.

Merida shook her hand farewell, holding it for a long time as if she wanted to release the touch as little as Elsa did. "I'd best see you again richt soon," she said warningly.

"Ging ye, besom," replied Elsa in kind, nodding her head towards the ship. Merida gave a peal of laughter and squeezed her hand one more time.

"You'll sound native in no time," Merida promised.

Reluctantly, Elsa let go of her hands, and watched as the party returned to their ships and made ready to sail. Already she was becoming more set on the idea of visiting Dunbroch in return, if for nothing more than to see Merida smile once again. She was sure that there could be time made in her schedule to allow her to take a delegation across the seas. Centuries ago, their kingdoms had been at war with each other -- but then again, until very recently Arendelle and Weselton had been close partners, and now that was in tatters. It was time to remake the world.

Merida's hair was like a banner as she stood at the prow of the ship, until the ships were so distant that even that flash of colour winked out of sight.

"Fire and ice," muttered Anna. Elsa elbowed her in the ribs, and tried not to laugh. "Oh, I saw that look."

"I don't know what you mean," said Elsa primly, but could not keep a straight face for long before giggling as well. "Oh, Dunbroch must be beautiful."

"It'll have to be within a few months," Anna said. "Before the sailing season is out."

"I think that can be arranged."

She can an image of green hills, rocky outcrops, and horses. Horses would be strange enough, in the place of reindeer. And Merida had said that Queen Elinor would probably be keen to meet the new Queen of Arendelle -- especially in a world which had so many kings nowadays.

"I'll be sure to bring you back a haggis," she added, as the ships slipped away and the mood of the crowd watching them go started to turn to boredom. Probably best that they let them go.

Anna looked after her with a frown. "What's a haggis?"

Elsa just laughed, carefree, _happy_.

She could get used to that.


End file.
